N.C. District: No. 2
Worker: Mary A. Hicks
No. Words: 568
Subject: JOSEPHINE SMITH
Story teller: Josephine Smith
Editor: Daisy Bailey Waitt
[Illustration: Josephine Smith]
JOSEPHINE SMITH
Ex-Slave Story
An interview with Josephine Smith, 94 years old of 1010 Mark
Street, Raleigh, N.C.
"I wuz borned in Norfolk, Virginia an' I doan know who we belonged to,
but I 'members de day we wuz put on de block at Richmond. I wuz jist
todlin' roun' den, but me an' my mammy brought a thousand dollars. My
daddy, I reckon, belonged ter somebody else, an' we wuz jist sold away
from him jist lak de cow is sold away from de bull.
"A preacher by de name of Maynard bought me an' mammy an' carried us
ter Franklinton, whar we lived till his daughter married Doctor John
Leach of Johnston County; den I wuz give ter her.
"All my white folkses wuz good ter me, an' I reckon dat I ain't got no
cause fer complaint. I ain't had much clothes, an' I ain't had so much
ter eat, an' a many a whuppin', but nobody ain't nebber been real bad
ter me.
"I 'members seein' a heap o' slave sales, wid de niggers in chains, an'
de spec'ulators sellin' an' buyin' dem off. I also 'members seein' a
drove of slaves wid nothin' on but a rag 'twixt dere legs bein'
galloped roun' 'fore de buyers. 'Bout de wust thing dat eber I seed
do' wuz a slave 'oman at Louisburg who had been sold off from her
three weeks old baby, an' wuz bein' marched ter New Orleans.
"She had walked till she wuz give out, an' she wuz weak enough ter fall
in de middle o' de road. She wuz chained wid twenty or thirty other
slaves an' dey stopped ter rest in de shade o' a big oak while de
speculators et dere dinner. De slaves ain't havin' no dinner. As I pass
by dis 'oman begs me in God's name fer a drink o' water, an' I gives it
ter her. I ain't neber be so sorry fer nobody.
"Hit wuz in de mont' of August an' de sun wuz bearin' down hot when de
slaves an' dere drivers leave de shade. Dey walk fer a little piece an'
dis 'oman fall out. She dies dar side o' de road, an' right dar dey
buries her, cussin', dey tells me, 'bout losin' money on her.
"Atter de war I comes ter Raleigh an' wucks fer Major Russ den I cooks
a year on Hillsboro Street fer somebody who I can' 'member right now,
den I goes ter Louisburg ter cook in Mr. Dedman's hotel, an' hearin'
'bout Melissa I fin's dat she am my sister, so I goes ter Mis'
Mitchel's an' I gits her.
"A few years atter de war I marries Alex. Dunson wuz a body slave fer
Major Fernie Green an' went through all de war. Me an' him lived
tergether sixty years, I reckon, an' he died de night 'fore
Thanksgivin' in 1923.
"Slavery wuzn't so good, case it divided famblies an' done a heap o'
other things dat wuz bad, but de wuck wuz good fer ever'body. It's a
pity dat dese youngins nowadays doan know de value o' wuck lak we did.
Why when I wuz ten years old I could do any kind o' house wuck an' spin
an' weave ter boot. I hope dat dese chilluns will larn somethin' in
school an' church. Dats de only way dey can larn it."